


Half a World Away

by sapphire_child



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Cockblocking Dalek, Episode: s04e12 The Stolen Earth, F/M, Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-20
Updated: 2009-01-20
Packaged: 2019-01-22 22:10:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12491880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphire_child/pseuds/sapphire_child
Summary: This – he thinks – this is the most amazing feeling in the world. To want and miss somebody for so long and then to know that finally, finally you can have them. And even better, to not be afraid of wanting them.Ten’s thoughts duringthatscene in TSE.





	Half a World Away

**Author's Note:**

> Lyrics in the cut and used for the title are from [Half a World Away](http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=9shEJlcBOr0) by Secret Garden.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

He’s so shocked by her answer that it takes him longer than it should to realise the full implications behind Donna’s words. When her eyes flicker to a point just over his shoulder the Doctor finally manages to stop gawking long enough to wheel around and scan the street. From Donna’s words he’s half expecting Rose to be standing right behind him and so it takes him a moment to focus properly on the slightly built figure padding slowly down the road towards them.

Even from so far away he can see that the posture is stiffer and more confident than what he remembers of Rose, this woman’s stride is longer and more purposeful. In contrast the blonde hair, heart shaped face and slight build are all achingly familiar. But this – this can’t be real – and how cruel of his senses to trick him like this after missing her for so long.

He squints and tries to convince himself that through the smoke and the debris she could be anyone, any blonde woman wandering around the streets of London. He considers taking a step back and reaching for the safety and comfort of Donna’s hand but then the woman at the end of the street sees him watching her and she halts in her tracks.

They stare at each other for only a moment.

And then she smiles warmly at him and even from so far away he _knows_.

He turns completely towards her, still utterly gobsmacked.

And then she begins to move towards him.

His body mirrors her actions before he’s even really thought about it. His legs move first and then his arms follow suit, pumping harder and harder as he moves from a walk to a rapid jog into an all out sprint in mere seconds.

She’s running now too, her emotions as wide and open on her face as his are. The gun she carries is awkward and heavy against her hip but despite it, she’s running with a quiet sort of desperation that he’s seen from her too many times before to not recognise.

It’s the same expression she wore when she ran to him in the TARDIS after the impossible planet, when she’d been released from her possession by Cassandra. The same expression she had when she first agreed to come with him and came running into the TARDIS so long ago.

More than words, this is her way of saying _‘I’m home’_ and _‘I love you’_ without a damned thing being said at all. Seeing that expression on her face after so long...his love for her swells to bursting point and he can’t keep himself from breaking into a giddy smile even as he dodges through the wreckage towards her.

This – he thinks – _this_ is the most amazing feeling in the world. To want and miss somebody for so long and then to know that finally, _finally_ you can have them. And even better, to not be afraid of wanting them.

Because he wants her – oh yes he wants her. More than anything else in the whole universe he wants her in his arms again.

This is the first time in his long, long life that he’s ever run towards something, to someone.

And he’s not stopping for anything.


End file.
